Table of Contents

Morituri Nolumus Mori

My incredibly detailed swordfighting rules. Apologies to Terry Pratchett for stealing his Latin phrase “we who are about to die don't want to”. These rules are about as realistic as I can get them and still be playable. They're meant to be a replacement for whatever roleplaying game you're using so you'll need to adapt them to whatever abstractions are used in your system

This game is a sequel to Skirmish which was just a medieval version of Lunch Money :)

How are these rules different?

Fatigue
Combat is tiring - holding up a shield for extended periods and swinging a sword is tiring. That and general exhaustion haven't been adequately factored into combat.

Limb damage
Most of the rules above have skill levels for combatants - they generally don't take into account how taking wounds (and fatigue) really lowers your skill levels - you just can't parry the same if it hurts to do so (adrenaline will only cover so much). Not to mention bloodloss…

Less numbers
There's far too much number crunching in all the detailed rules when some properly designed play aids would work wonders :)

Status sheet
One sheet to represent you - covers tiredness and damage to your body. Think Battletech - but with more detail than using hit points/dots

Cards
Build a deck of moves based on skill level. Plus a deck for hit locations to simulate the flow weapon swings.

Sections

Weapons - the kinds of damage they inflict, how they are wielded and their speeds

Shields - the kinds of damage they prevent, how they are wielded and their speeds